Toshiba

Toshiba client Solutions Division has unveiled a new product today that is aimed at helping notebook users to work better when in the office at their desk. The device is called the Toshiba WiGig dock and it delivers high-speed wireless docking using IEEE 802.11ad standards for connectivity. The dock can support wireless data transfer rates of up to 4.62Gbps and is able to connect up to seven different peripherals.

Not all SD cards are created equal. While these pieces of plastic are more known for providing extra storage for digital cameras and laptops, some cards offer more. These are the so-called Wi-Fi SD cards, enabling wireless transfer from SD card to some other wirelessly connected device. And there are, in fact, two competing, ergo incompatible, brands: Eyefi and Toshiba’s FlashAir. But thanks to a licensing deal between the two, cards from one company will soon be able to work with apps and services of the other, creating one big happy Wi-Fi SD card family.

Four reports of overheated and melted laptop batteries has prompted Toshiba to recall more than 100,000 units in the U.S. and Canada. These lithium-ion battery packs were used in 39 laptops across a trio of model lines, and were also sold separately. Most of the batteries are located in the United States, though 10,000 of them were sold in Canada, as well. Affected batteries start with the part number “G71C."

Security cameras, more often than not, have less-than-ideal image quality, something due in part to storage demands (storing endless hours of high-resolution footage requires ample storage space, after all). Storage isn’t a concern in some cases, though, and for those situations there’s the new Toshiba IKS-WB9518, the maker’s first Ultra HD 4k resolution security camera.

This week was filled with announcements of new and upcoming products but, somewhat ironically, Toshiba did the opposite. It revealed that it is canceling its Wearvue product, a Google Glass like that, like the rumored next gen Glass, was intended for the enterprise instead of consumers. What's amusing is how Toshiba canceled the device just a month after it was announced and just a week before it was meant to go on sale. Rather than an isolated case, however, it could be an indicator of a shift in the market.

Partly thanks to the rise of smartphones and tablets, the once lucrative PC market has been losing its luster for almost half a decade now. These are desperate times for many PC makers, which call for desperate measures. Three Japanese companies have been reported to be close to showing their desperation, by joining forces to tackle the common foe of declining PC sales. That VAIO, Fujitsu, Toshiba merger might actually even happen before the end of March. However, that drop might not even make any ripple in the global PC market.

Toshiba has unveiled a remote controlled robot that will be used to remove fuel-rod assemblies from the spent fuel pool in the reactor 3 building at the Fukushima no. 1 nuclear plant. The robot will begin the work of removing 566 fuel rod assemblies in fiscal 2017. Toshiba was the company that built reactor 3 and recently gave a demonstration of the remote-control crane-like device.

Things are going from bad to worse for Toshiba, with the company revealing plans to lay off another 6,800 workers amidst a record net financial loss. This follows a report earlier this month stating the company will spin off its PC business in an effort to ditch unprofitable business units. At the heart of its most recent troubles is an accounting scandal that came to light earlier this year.

Sources say Toshiba, in a bid to further rid itself of unprofitable units, is considering spinning off its PC business and having it merge with a different PC maker. Speculation has it that Vaio, formerly of Sony, could get involved in this, but the company has denied such rumors. As with many in the industry, Toshiba has failed to make profits from its PC unit in the recent past, and it holds only 2.3% of the global laptop and tablet market.

Following rumors and negotiations over the last few months, Sony has confirmed today that it is buying the image sensor business of fellow Japanese tech giant Toshiba for 19 billion yen, or roughly $155 million. This comes after Sony's decision in early October to spin off its own sensor division into a separate company, now called Sony Semiconductor Solutions. This, along with the Toshiba purchase, will allow Sony to secure itself as the dominant provider of camera and smartphone sensors.

Three major computer makers have announced that they are considering merging their PC operations to create a single company with the largest market share in Japan. The three firms are Toshiba, Fujitsu, and Vaio. Combined the three firms would own 30% of the Japanese PC market.

Confirming a report from earlier this week by Japanese business newspaper Nikkei, Sony has announced that it is in fact in negotiations with Toshiba to acquire the latter's CMOS image sensor business. No pricing or other financial details were shared at this point, but the move is sure to improve Sony's own image sensor division, recently seen as one of their most successful and important businesses.